FOX News slapped African-Americans in the face again last night when it chose admitted racist Mark Fuhrman to analyze the racially-charged Duke rape case on Hannity & Colmes.

While Fuhrman spoke cautiously about the case, Sean Hannity’s bigotry was on full display. Hannity laid out the evidence contradicting the accuser's allegations and left out the evidence corroborating them. “A security guard who may have been the first person to see this woman, this alleged victim in the case, after the alleged attacks say (sic) there were no signs or mention of a rape or a sexual assault. If you couple that with the police tape that came out and the police officer said she seems passed-out drunk in somebody else’s car and if the defense is right and they have pictures that show pre-existing injuries that had supposedly happened during this rape, it would seem that this case may be falling apart, unless there’s information we don’t know.”

But Hannity left out some information we DO know, that nurses who examined the woman said her injuries were consistent with sexual assault and that another dancer who was at the party told MSNBC that she believed the allegations. Fuhrman acknowledged that the dancer's inebriation didn't preclude her being raped but he also neglected to mention the corroborating evidence.

Hannity agreed that “even if you’re inebriated, even if you’re an exotic dancer, you can be raped here. But people also make false charges. We’ve got to be careful that we don’t have a rush to judgement in this particular case. It concerns me that the DA seems to want to try this case in the media.”

A quick search of Media Matters revealed that this was not the first time Mark Fuhrman appeared on Hannity & Colmes to discuss a racially-charged case. In June, 2004, former Los Angeles detective Fuhrman, whose racist views were first brought to light as a result of his participation in the O.J. Simpson case, came on Hannity & Colmes to discuss a Rodney King-esque police beating in Los Angeles. During their report on that discussion, Media Matters questioned Hannity’s credibility on the issue, citing his behavior during the racially-charged Abner Louima case in New York City. I, too, have found numerous instances of Hannity’s racial bias in the 10 months that I have been covering him. See, for example, Hannity's attacks on a seven year old girl and the Coretta Scott King funeral.

According to Wikipedia, Fuhrman is a frequent guest of Hannity’s (presumably on his radio show). One can’t help but conclude he likely played some part in the decision to have Fuhrman discuss the Duke case and that the slight to African-Americans was not unintentional.

We welcome your opinions and viewpoints. Comments must remain
civil, on-topic and must not violate any copyright or other laws.
We reserve the right to delete any comments we deem inappropriate or
non-constructive to the discussion for any reason, and to block any
commenter for repeated violations.

Your email address is required to post, but it will not be published on the site.